We'll be arriving at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands at 8 a.m. on April 22, 2007. The Bollenstreek Flower Parade is on April 21, 2007 and ends in Haarlem but the flower floats will be displayed in Haarlem all day Sunday, April 22.

We have hotel reservations in Delft but would like to see the floats in Haarlem before we travel onto Delft.

Do you know if the train or bus station in Haarlem has a checked luggage area where we could store our luggage, so we can see these floats before we take a train onto Delft?

Thanks so much for any help you can give me!

As per the information on the website of the Dutch Railways (unfortunately only in Dutch) there are either luggage lockers or a depot with staff available in Haarlem.

Lockers:
small locker: 90cm deep, 45cm high and 40cm wide - price: € 3.10 per 24 hrs
big locker: 90cm deep, 60cm high and 40cm wide - price: € 4.60 per 24 hrs

Thanks. I e-mailed the Haarlem TI and they said the lockers only take Dutch CC.

The luggage lockers in the Haarlem station take euro coins, like every other luggage locker in euro-land. Change is impossible to get from merchants unless you are buying something so ask for coins when you get your euros. There is an ABN-AMRO bank at Schiphol. There is no attended luggage room in the Haarlem station.

A brief into to Nederlands Spoorwegen train facilities is at http://tinyurl.com/k8thy.

The Harrlem VVV tourist office is normally closed on Sundays. Ask for info at the VVV in Schiphol. In the past the floats have been parked on the Gedempte Oude Gracht, a filled in canal and now one of the main streets. Walk south from the station on the street to your right, Kruis Weg, to the Grote Markt. That's where the big church is located. On the other side of the square starts Grote Hout Straat which will take you to the floats. They are very well done, and a fraction the size of the floats in the Rose Parade. Total distance 500 meters, about 15 interesting minutes.

Travel tip: You can take the train from Schiphol to Haarlem with a change in Sloterdijk. Instead of the train I MUCH prefer to take bus #300 from Schiphol Plaza direct to the Haarlem station. Buy a 15 strip Strippenkaart at the VVV Schiphol. The bus will require 8 strips. The Strippenkaat is valid on buses and trams throughout Holland so you won't be wasting the rest of it. Buses run every 10 minutes and take 40 minutes. Trains are not so frequent and you expose youself to the perennial threat of pickpockets and luggage thieves who work the Schiphol-Amsterdam route.

Lunch tip: Cafe Brinkman on the Grote Markt. Good reasonably priced food, good ambience and view of the 17th century square, but typical slow Dutch service.

Another lunch tip: Jacobus Pieck at Warmoesstraat. Delicious salads, baguettes and hamburgers!

Thank you so very much for your help. How did you know I was wondering where the floats would be located! We will be arriving with Euro coins already in our pockets, from past trips, so we'll use those for the lockers. Glad you know more than the VVV office! We'll try lunch on the day we return to Haarlem with more time.

Thanks so much again.

We'll use bus 300 to travel to Haarlem, then the train onto Delft. We have 8 days in the Netherlands, ending up in Amsterdam for a few days, our last day being Queen's Day. Hope we don't regret that!!

Take some time to look around Haarlem my x is from there and we went back many times to visit. I don't know where they will be but there is a large square called the Grote Market, up the street for the station. Stop at the
Cafe van Stoffelen on the way.
All are on the street that runs from the train station to the square. I am racking my brain on how to spell it.
I think its Kruisstraat or something close.

Its a brisk 10 minute walk or take your time and look in the shops along the way
there is a butcher shop mid-way (in the family) that is known as one of the most famous old time shops in Hollard. Some long lost relative started it around 1400's. Not that you will be looking to buy cuts of meat <G>

Also of some interest is the TenBoom house at 19 Barteljorisstraat her family hid many jewish family's and ended up in the camps for doing so. Also the Frans Hals musuem, and the oldest museum in Holland Teylers dates to around 1704 + or- a few years.

You will not regret Queen's Day in Amsterdam, unless it is a rotten weather day, or unless you do not appreiate a city under drunken siege. I love it, at the Spui.

We will be going back to Haarlem on the following Saturday for the whole day and seeing everything then! Thanks for all your suggestions.

On Queeens Day, will the museums be open if we want to fit one in the morning? Does the "partying" actually start the night before Queens Day?

Thanks so much.

One tip from me: We reserved our room in Delft on iAgora.com and have a great rate. Two days ago I e-mailed the hotel with a question and they can't find our reservation or booking number with iAgora. We're working on it now, but if you book with an outside agency, always check with the hotel and be sure they have a record of it.

In Amsterdam we've reserved with B&B The Collector http://www.the-collector.nl/ It's hard finding reasonable reservations over this holiday, but this one has great Trip Advisor reviews. Well report back when we return on how we liked it.